When I first moved to Pittsfield, about 10 years ago, I dug out a map, the kind they used to give away at the gas stations for free (in fact, I think this map was relic of those days). The simple road map didn't have much detail on it, just the main streets, the airport, state forests — and a place called "Balanced Rock."
Balance (or Balanced) Rock was basically the only Pittsfield attraction the mapmaker thought worth spending ink on. When I asked about it, people told me that Balance Rock was famous, a geological curiosity and fodder for authors and poets. People who grew up in the Berkshires told me about family walks and picnics at Balance Rock.
Eventually, I visited The Rock myself. Some friends and I parked just off the street, and trudged a little road, sometimes paved sometimes not, until we saw a graffiti-covered boulder in a little clearing. It really is a big rock that is balanced, stuck really, on a smaller rock. It looks like anyone could lean on it, or bump it, and tip it over (kind of like Clark Griswold at Stonehenge in one of those "Vacation" movies).
Rock on
You can climb on the rock and sit. Or, you can crawl under it, and wonder if this 165-ton hunk of limestone will choose this particular moment to become unbalanced. In his most bizarre novel, Herman Melville spends a lot of time, nearly a whole chapter, on Balance Rock (he was living in Pittsfield at the time he wrote Pierre). In the book, Pierre does crawl under the rock and the experience inspires some intense metaphysical wanderings. The rock, in fact, plays a pivotal (pun intended, I admit), role for Pierre, who is never quite the same after discovering his "Memnon Stone."
"It was shaped something like a lengthened egg, but flattened more; and at the ends, pointed more; and yet not pointed, but irregularly wedge-shaped...[balanced on] that one obscure and minute point of contact...it was a breathless thing to see...It might well have been the wonder of the whole country around."
I wish I could say that I shared Pierre's entrancement during my visit, but I didn't. I thought it was kind of interesting, but kind of pedestrian. A nice rock in a clearing, with a little trash can next to it. Oh yeah, with the inescapable graffiti.
Bring your own spray can
I'll never understand graffiti. What are they thinking? "I think I'll deface someone else's property or a natural landmark with paint. Yeah, that would be cool. But I can't tell anyone I did it, unless I put my super-secret tag, which only other vandals will be able to understand."
The weirdest part of graffiti is that it always seems illegible. I've never been able to read any of it, except for a few nonsense phrases or swears. If you're going to write on a rock, why not write something worth reading? But they don't. I guess the bottom line is that they have nothing to say.
Graffiti is nothing new, though. When Melville's Pierre took a close look at the Rock, he found that someone, possibly Solomon himself, had already carved his initials into it, ruining Pierre's illusion that he had discovered the thing.
I visited the Rock again last week, this time after hiking in the nearby Pittsfield State Forest and at Balance Rock State Park itself. The Rock seems to be very popular with families. I went on a weekday evening and I saw bicyclers and RV and some motorcycle tourists at the site.
There are some nice walking trails around the rock, including loop around the Rock itself. Since the Rock abuts Pittsfield State Forest, you can spend a whole day hiking in the area and sit in the shade of Balance Rock as a rest stop, which is what I did recently. I think this is a better choice than simply visiting the Rock. After a long afternoon of walking in the forest, the geological wonder has more impact, and is more likely to inspire, like Pierre, some metaphysical wanderings.
As for me, I simply enjoyed the rest, enjoyed the creepy feeling of sitting under the rock and thought about how pathetic graffiti taggers are. Waxing metaphysical just gives me a headache.
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Berkshire Food Project Closed for Power Issues
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Berkshire Food Project is closed Monday because of a power outage early in the morning.
"We are unable to get proper electricity and heat to the building," according to Executive Director Matthew Alcombright. "We hope that this can be resolved and be open tomorrow."
The project does have some sandwiches and frozen meals that will be distributed at the entry.
The city has lifted a boil water order — with several exceptions — that was issued late Monday morning following several water line breaks over the weekend. click for more
The bridge had been closed to all vehicle traffic since March 2023 after being deemed structurally deficient by the state Department of Transportation. click for more
